OVERSEAS INDIANS MAY VOTE IN INDIAN ELECTIONS SOON, SAYS MANMOHAN

By P.Vijian

NEW DELHI, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- India is working out a modality to allow
Indians living outside the country to cast their votes in local general
elections.

About 25 million Indians are currently living across the globe but continue
to maintain close ties with their motherland.

"I recognise the legitimate desire of Indians living abroad to exercise
their franchise and to have a say in who governs India. We are working on this
issue and I sincerely hope that they will get a chance to vote by the time of
the next regular general elections.

"In fact, I would go a step further and ask why more overseas Indians should
not return home to join politics and public life as they are increasingly doing
in business and academia," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his
speech at the 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference Friday.

Speaking at the annual conclave attended by more than 1,500 delegates from
over 50 countries, Manmohan called on Indians living abroad to take part in
India's development programme to help speed up the country's economic and social
development agenda.

"We seek the active involvement of the overseas Indian communities in
accelerating the pace of our economic and social development.

"In this context, it is important that we make efforts to connect the second
generation of overseas Indians with their ancestral heritage and involve them
actively in India's march forward," said the premier.
-- BERNAMA